Graham Avenue Townhouse

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Description

This 5,000 sf townhouse is located in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, a rapidly developing New York community consisting largely of artists and young professionals. Martin R. Tomczyk was originally selected only as the design architect for this project. However, it soon became apparent during the early stages of this project that the selected contractors were unable to properly execute the design or maintain the proposed budget. In response, Martin R. Tomczyk established MRTA Design Construction to serve as contractor and project manager with the help of the consulting engineer. This project was built for mixed-use; comprising of one commercial level and two residential floors with resident access to a rooftop garden and second floor rear terrace. This project required demolition of an existing wood frame structure in multiple stages, excavation of basement and considerable restructuring of the preexisting foundation. The curtain wall and imported windows were customized to give the facade its particular form. The curtain wall retracts at its peak back into a skylight. The rear facade was made from zinc tinted custom corrugated sheet metal. All the concrete facade elements were custom fabricated for structural integrity by MRTA. The urban custom stone facade was developed to contrast the glass curtain wall which floods the structure’s interior natural light. The intention of these two elements was to create a balanced juxtaposition between the heavy and the light, the transparent and the opaque. The size and scale of the facade was designed with the intent to compliment the human scale and the existing surrounding environment.